Summarizing deposition transcripts is a necessary
task but it can be frustrating and time consuming. There are several
software applications on the market that promise to make the job
easy, but they usually offer more than what you need — a
straightforward method for reading through a transcript and pulling
out important passages.

That’s exactly the niche that Depo from
TrialPrep aims to fill. When you import a transcript into Depo, it
automatically pairs each question and answer together. You then can
go through and click-select each pair that you wish to export to
another document. Depo also does an excellent job of providing demo
videos and a readable help file, and it offers unlimited technical
support.

The brainchild of Laurence Steffan, a trial
attorney who needed a simple way to extract specific witness trial
questions from a deposition transcript, Depo automatically pairs
each question and answer together when you import a transcript. You
then can use Depo to summarize your deposition.

The installation process was quick and smooth
but it should be noted that Depo works on top of the Microsoft .NET
framework. This will be automatically installed if it isn’t already
present on your computer system. You might want to check with your
IT department in case it needs to approve the installation.

Importing a transcript is easily done through
the File menu and multiple volume transcripts (i.e., those that span
more than one day) easily can be appended to existing files.

Before the import, however, it’s a good practice
to open the transcript in a text editor (usually the application
called “Notepad” that comes pre-installed on every Windows operating
system) if you don’t have the paper transcript to review. You should
keep two things in mind for Depo — the page on which the first
question starts (past all the introductory material) and how many
lines appear on each page (usually 25). This information is
necessary to make sure every transcript is imported correctly and
that the transcript in Depo matches the page numbers on the printed,
official transcript.

Transcripts are loaded into specific case
“Types” that you can define. For example, if you have a wrongful
termination suit, you can create a case name, such as Jones v.
Smith, and import your transcript into that folder.

On the transcript screen, the questions are in
bold while the answers are in plain font. Each question and answer
pair has a number down the left side with a check box under each
number. On the right, you will see the page and line number where
the text is found. If you are interested in exporting your key
question and answer pairs, you simply can click each check box to
mark them in red. You can go a step further, however, and assign
each question and answer pair to a “Group,” which many people will
call “issue.”

You can create Groups for each type of case. So
under the “Contract” case type, you can have Group names for Offer,
Acceptance and Breach. To associate a Group with a question and
answer pair, you select a Group name from a drop-down menu at the
bottom of the screen. When you click a question’s checkbox, that
question and answer pair automatically will be tagged with the
appropriate Group name. This becomes very helpful when you export
your selected questions to a Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect
document because the questions are arranged by each Group to which
they were assigned.

As you go through your transcript, you can add a
question or edit an existing one. This might sound a little
dangerous, but it becomes very helpful when you are preparing your
list of questions to have in hand at trial. You can add follow-up
questions to use during witness testimony that you might have
forgotten during the deposition. Similarly, you can edit questions
to take out extraneous verbiage.

A search box is available at the bottom left of
the screen to help you jump directly to a specific section of the
transcript. All the “hits” of a search appear in a box below the
text of the transcript and you can jump to a particular page by
clicking on the page and line numbers listed there.

Once you are done selecting and “Grouping” each
question and answer pair that you need for your final document, you
can click the export buttons for Word or WordPerfect. In the Page
Setup dialog box, you can set page margins, different fonts for
questions and answers, and even adjust the spacing between question
and answer pairs. This allows you to make sure there is enough room
for a three-hole punch for a trial binder or simply enough space to
make appropriate notes throughout the trial. You also can order the
sequence in which you want the groups to print.

Depo by TrialPrep pales in features when
compared to Summation, TextMap or LiveNote, but it’s meant to give
you a streamlined method for reviewing and summarizing deposition
transcripts. Someone has to read through all the text and Depo gives
you a point-and-click interface to select the question and answer
pairs that are going to be the most relevant for future proceedings.